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Monday, September 23, 2013

the birthday of all birthdays. 25.

tonight is monday night and i'm sitting here watching football, drinking wine, and reflecting on what happened last thursday. last thursday was monumental. last thursday i turned a quarter of a century.

funny thing is if you know me personally you already knew this. mainly because I start reminding people at least 7 months in advance. the previous 5 months i had spent post celebrating from the previous one so that only makes sense.

i kicked off my birthday week with a concert of someone i’ve listened to for years, but never got the chance to go see. j cole. this talented guy is actually from north carolina. fayetteville to be exact. i started listening to him back in college when his mainstream songs started getting popular on the radio- songs like ‘work out’ and ‘in the morning.’ guys in college then downloaded the album and i got really into the other songs that weren't so publicized on ‘cole world: the sideline story.’ he played quite a few of them at the show - some i knew just about all the lyrics. white girl can rap.

lee is probably the equivalent fan of j cole as i am to taylor swift and we alllllllllll know that’s a true love. he came to charlotte on tuesday, september 17th so we had to go. {ps. we also go to atlanta in two weeks to sit front row AND MEET HIM. blog to follow.}

{lee; me before the j cole show}

{awesome performance}

my actual birthday is september 19th which was a thursday this year. i went home that morning and walked into my bedroom which had been transformed in this fairytale surprise below by my roommate, katie. filled with helium balloons tied with pictures of us from years past, balloons all over the floor, and banners, she really made that surprise very special. i’m so thankful for that moment.

{decor}

after that, i went to work and was greeted by a shiz ton of bojangles and a message from my girl, taylor. lee delivered flowers to my work. beautiful. one of my best friends, danielle, also delivered flowers to my work. enough said. even between the busy workday, i still felt very special.

{bojo's}

{feeling 25.}

{lee's flowers}

{danielle's flowers}

around 2:30pm i left the office and went shopping as every girl should do on a day like that. earlier in the week lee had told me he wanted to take me somewhere special, but wouldn’t tell me where. this was perfect for me – someone who loves surprises and loves people who will take the time to plan them. i was so curious as to where he had chosen, because he’s such a sweet guy i knew it had to be somewhere that was of some importance to me. he picked me up around 7pm and drove down south boulevard and once he took the right turn onto east boulevard, i instantly knew what was in store. he pulled in to the drive of 300 east – one of my favorite places in charlotte.

{dimly lit booth at 300 east}

this restaurant is an old 2 story house that has been transformed into more casual tables and a bar downstairs and more intimate seating in a dimly lit setting upstairs. ironically i sat in the same exact booth i went with my friend laura one year ago for my 24th birthday. it’s a special place to me now. the food is phenomenal. see below for yourself then plan a night out and go there – you’re welcome for the extra love, 300 east!

{bacon wrapped filet, potatoes, zucchini & squash}

later that night, all i wanted to do was go to a chill bar and have some beers considering we both had to work in the morning. we did just that and caught the late half of the state/clemson game. state took a hard hit for a bs call which i believe ultimately cost them the game. yes, i'm a tarheel but if they're not playing i have no problem cheering for other acc teams.

it was exactly what i wanted to do on my 25th birthday with my favorite guy.

{after dinner drinks}

however, i knew celebrations weren't over just yet. this past saturday i had some of my favorite people come out to celebrate with me. we started at my place to pregame and i finally had my girls all in one place {with the exception of a few}.

{allyson; me}

{taylor; me}

the weatherdecided to be super rude to all of us that night and created a mini monsoon. i decided to get smart & to get everyone plastic grocery bags to put over their head. call me crazy, & think i’m nuts if you want; but it worked. it doesn’t really go with your outfit though, i later figured out.

{me; allyson}

after heading uptown and dodging the raindrops (or lack thereof), we ended up at blackfinn charlotte in the epicenter - which was ridiculously packed; aka i wouldn’t recommend going there on a weekend night unless you’d rather get suffocated, stand shoulder to shoulder with people you don’t know and wait in line for an hour and twenty two minutes for a drink. it’s a cool atmopshere, but my suggestion would be to visit midweek evenings for dinner instead. so after finding most of the crew, i wanted to then venture to somewhere else where i could, i don’t know....breathe. before i left black finn though, i got to see one of my best girls, danielle, and her sister who was celebrating her bachelorette for her wedding on october 12th.

{danielle; erica; me}

{morgan the bachelorette; me}

i decided i needed some piano bar into my life so we went to one of the coolest places in charlotte: howl at the moon. this bar plays all songs from all genres and they even take requests! they jammed it out and we rocked on all night long.

disclaimer: you can also dance on the bar here and it may not always be graceful. so hello 25th birthday. hello last age this will probably be acceptable.

i’ll let the pictures tell the rest.

{sweetest girls}

{sweetest boyfriend}

{part of the sweetest birthday crew}

saying thank you to the people who helped me celebrate is a complete understatement to all those who helped make this special birthday the best birthday to date thus far. i’m so excited to see what my 25th year has for me.